Interested in Fellowship? Applying for Fellowship in the American College of Surgeons (ACS) is a three-step process—submitting an application, providing a 12-month list of your surgical cases, and participating in an interview. Once you apply, a dashboard helps keep you up-to-date on the status of your application. If questions arise during the application process or while you are waiting for your application to be approved, you might find the information below helpful.
Here is an outline of what you will need to know when you are applying for Fellowship in the American College of Surgeons:
My Practice Type
- Academic
- Rural/Community
- Independent private practice
- Military
My Application Status
- Initial notification is 30 days after submission
- Find status and tasks under "My Profile" on ACS website login
- Postponed applications informed if able to resubmit the following year Denied applications will be canceled.
- The Applicant Review Committee will determine if an applicant is eligible to reapply.
My One Year of Practice
- 365 days in the same institution
- Multiple jobs at the same institution
- Multiple jobs not at same institution but in same geographical area
- Does not include training
- Does not include fellowships
- Full-time military can be multi-institutional
My Case Logs
- Case logs are not submitted with the application
- You will receive a link to upload your case logs.
- There is no set number of cases needed Include any number of cases from last 365 days of employment at the same (only one) institution
- Begin your case log from the first month of your year-long independent practice
- Locums-employed surgeons can submit a case log from multiple institutions in the same geographical area
- If relocated within past six months, use case logs from prior and current institutions
- Accepted cases are (mostly) based on the complexity and surgical outcomes
My Board Certification
- Board-certified in any one (or more than one) specialty recognized that is a member of the American Board of Medical Specialties, an American Osteopathic Surgical Specialty Board, or by the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.
- Apply for a waiver if you are an Oral-Maxillofacial Surgeon (Oral-maxillofacial surgery is not a member of the American Board of Medical Specialties)
- Fellow applicants who are working in the U.S. or Canada but were internationally trained and do not have U.S. board certification can also apply for a waiver.
My Fellow References
- Total of three ACS Fellow-member references
- Must be ACS Fellows (FACS)
- Of the three references, one must be your chief of surgical services
- Can be a retired ACS Fellow
- References are emailed to complete the online reference form
- Highly recommended that you separately notify your references of your reference request
- The ACS notifies you 45 days after you apply with a status of your references' submissions
My Local Interview
- Interviews are scheduled by your local Committee on Applicants
- Two or more committee members interview each candidate
- Interviews are up to 30 minutes long
- Questions include: practice, cases, surgical quality and improvement efforts, surgical ethics
- Committee on Applicants interviews applicants then recommends Fellowship confirmation to the Board of Regents
My Conferral of Fellowship
- Use FACS only after your conferral in October
- Fellowships are conferred once each year in October
